Famous Last Words
by 3VAD127
Summary: AU as of Sozin's Comet. Katara pushed through the kaleidoscope of emotions running through her and smiled, tears pouring down. All she could think about was his voice - those famous last words spoken to her as he neared the brink of death. Rated for blood


**Disclaimer:** Since I am obviously not either Mike, Bryan, or Nickelodeon Studios, I don't own _Avatar_. And neither do you.

**Author's Notes:** Yeeeah… another Sokka/Katara sibling love fic. I am completely obsessed with the two of them; they are just so totally amazing together, and I really wish they would show more of their dynamic relationship in the show. (sigh) Oh well; a fan can dream.

Guh… I know I should be working on "Out the Window"… But still. I could _not_ get this out of my head! But don't worry, chapter 3 of that story is coming out soon. I've got some great material for that one and plan on posting it as soon as I possibly can. (:

**Famous Last Words**

* * *

"_There is no better friend than a sister. And there is no better sister than you."_

* * *

It all happened so fast… Katara wasn't sure what had happened first. Between the explosions and the fire and the cries of the wounded, drowned out only by the stench of the dead and dying… So many things going on around her. All she knew was that one moment, she was defending Aang outside of the Fire Lord's chambers, shooting lethal icicles this way and that—and the next, she was grabbed by the back of her torn and bloody tunic by none other than Toph.

"We've got a problem," the young Earthbender huffed over the din of explosions and twisting metal. This was it—the final day before Sozin's Comet arrived. Aang was inside the throne room as they spoke, fighting Lord Ozai with as much strength and determination and sheer _willpower_ as one young twelve-year-old Avatar could muster.

Katara took one look into Toph's pale green eyes and knew something was indeed desperately wrong. Toph, Sokka, and Suki had all been battling together, while she and Aang stuck together and Zuko went off to find his sister. (She secretly hoped he had already killed Azula, but the young Waterbender soon realized he was much too noble for that.) So, taking a last lingering look at the sculpted golden doors of Ozai's domain, Katara allowed the blind girl to lead her through the calamity and ruckus and _oh my God the blood was flowing in rivers now—_

_Was that Haru?_ She blinked her blue eyes.

No.

Couldn't be.

The charred remains of the Earthbender's body were far too mauled and bloody and beaten. He was burned beyond recognition. But somehow, the Waterbender girl knew, just _knew_ it was him.

Just like she knew there was something wrong. So, so… terribly out of place…

None of this was even possible.

And so a twisting, clawing sensation wormed its way into Katara's gut and proceeded to rot out her insides. She knew. It climbed up her midsection into her stomach, then through her heart, before lacing its icy fingers up her neck and into her skull. She shivered violently as her head twitched slightly.

Her companion led her to a toppled pillar, where the girl could barely make out the ragged silhouettes of a man and a woman. The woman, who was huddled over her friend, was dressed in the most peculiar blood-red… very much opposite the dark, soothing blues and grays and whites of the man on the floor—

Oh spirits.

Oh, please, not him. Please, please, anyone but him… anyone but him…

_Anyone but Sokka._

Katara's hand flew to her mouth as she choked back the urge to vomit. Toph led her to the pair and forced Katara to kneel down. The girl wavered before regaining her composure. She then addressed the woman in red. "Suki… what happened?"

The blue-eyed teen looked at the Waterbender, a grave expression written into her features. "I don't know," she admitted. "I didn't see much. But he took a terrible kick in the ribs. I don't see any external injuries, so I'm assuming the worst and saying he's got some internal bleeding." Katara could sense the anguish and guilt radiating from the girl across from her—but there would be time for mourning and blame later. After their duties were fulfilled.

The Waterbender finally managed to take a look at her brother. (_…He always was taller than her…_)

His eyes were closed, and his chest barely rose and fell in the rhythm of his ragged, labored breathing. (_…He would run and jump and play, eyes bright, saying things like, "Come look, Katara!" She always did, memorizing how he worked, so she could sneak up on him and tackle him into the snow, both of their chests heaving in excitement…_)

Katara could see a thin stream of blood running out of his mouth and dripping down his chin, making a terrifying _splatting_ noise that echoed ten times louder than any hand grenade. (_…It was animal blood, actually—Sokka was a strict meat-atarian, a carnivore by nature, and so animal blood dripping down his chin at mealtimes really wasn't something new…_)

The boy's calloused fists were clenched tightly, and it was obvious from the way his teeth ground and his brows knit together that he was in excruciating pain. (_…His hands were soft and large but not calloused—no, never calloused, not even from the terrible workload he shouldered, being the only male over fourteen in the village—and they were always gentle. They enveloped her in a hug, holding her tightly and fingering her hair, while his voice spoke softly of grand and wonderful times, and of their mother and father, and of great heroes of old…_)

"Spirits," the young Waterbender girl murmured, nearly choking on her own voice. She shook her head free of her demons and bended some water out of her canteen to assess the damage. The water glowed as she held it in place over the chest of her brother. "You were right, Suki," the girl said emotionlessly. "He's got internal bleeding… but there's not much I can do about that. I can only heal external wounds." The knife in Katara's heart twisted and buried itself deeper when she finally faced the truth—

There was nothing she could do to save Sokka.

She placed a hand over her mouth and sighed, fighting back the anger and the hurt, the frustration, guilt, sorrow, anguish—all of it. He needed her to be strong, if only for a moment.

Suki sat on her heels, mouth parted slightly and eyes staring at nothing. Katara felt for her. "Suki…"

"Katara!" Suki was up in an instant, and she had a distinct gleam in her eye. She had thought of something. "You can still bend water you can't see, right?" Katara nodded. "Then, hypothetically, you can bend a stream of water down his throat and see what the problem is!"

The Waterbender shook her head skeptically. "Sure, if you want me to _drown_ him!"

"No… no, listen," the Kyoshi girl implored. "Only bend a little bit down there. I don't know how much you need for healing, but at least healing a little bit is better than doing nothing, right?" Her blue eyes were bright with hope. Katara, on the other hand, had no intention of falsely getting her hopes up. That had happened too many times to her before, and she had only ended up getting hurt.

"Suki," she said plainly, "it won't work. He's just—" Katara choked. "—he's just going to die, anyway. There's no point in even _trying_ anymore."

The Earth Kingdom teen was angry and hurt. Suki said, "So what, you're just going to sit here and do _nothing_ while the Fire Nation gets away with killing your brother? At least if you tried, and he died anyway, you can live on in peace, knowing that you did your _very best_ to stop them—instead of just sitting around and watching him die."

Katara bowed her head. "It's not that simple—" she began softly.

"Yes!" Suki said forcefully. "It _is_. You either try, or you don't. Now TRY." The warrior girl placed a hand over Katara's as they both looked mournfully over the fallen Water Tribesman. "Katara… miracles _are_ possible. You and Aang are living proof of that." Katara looked up at her; blue met blue, and she smiled. She didn't need to say anything; the determined glint in her eye and the smirk on her face told Suki everything.

Toph came rushing back, followed shortly by Zuko, Iroh, and Hakoda. "Everyone's here," she said breathlessly.

_Well…_ _not everyone._ But Katara dared not say a word for fear of ruining what little morale their ragged little group had left. So she turned her attention to the fallen form of her brother. She took in everything about him—the ragged breathing, heaving chest… blood…—and began her work. Katara bended a small amount of water into her hand and, transforming it into a thin snake-like shape, she commanded it to slide in between his pale, cracked lips and down his parched throat. She swallowed as she sensed the terrible blisters left there by inhaling the red-hot smoke and ash from the burning fires surrounding them.

The others gathered around her, doing their best to help or give Katara some space to work. Toph measured breathing and blood pressure, while Suki and Hakoda worked around the boy's head to remove his metal helmet. Suki grimaced as she held Sokka's head steady. "Careful…" Hakoda slowly removed the painted covering and recoiled when he saw the dried, dark-red gooey substance on the inside of the helmet. The tanned boy groaned and arched his back, fingers scraping along the stone flooring.

"Keep him still!" Katara ordered. Iroh, Toph, and Zuko looked on in horror as Suki attempted to calm the wounded boy, running fingers through his dark, matted hair and whispering things to him. Sokka's eyes darted behind closed eyelids as Katara continued her work.

There was a lot of liquid in his lungs… too much liquid. His chest was crushed, and one of his lungs had been punctured by his own cracked ribs. Katara's face was twisted into horror, and she accidentally dropped her hands. "_Katara!…_" someone screamed. Sokka's back arched again, and he writhed uncontrollably. Quickly, she picked up the water again and began reworking his smashed ribcage from the inside. Tiny beads of sweat appeared on her forehead as she worked.

Zuko muttered something to the Waterbender from behind her, but she was so engrossed in her work she did not notice. She pushed and pulled the water, commanding it from her fingertips, each intricate twist of her wrists bringing more life to her brother's collapsed chest. She felt a burning sensation prick at the back of her eyes when she thought of him—

No. He's just another soldier. A random warrior struck down in the heat of battle. Just another soldier. He's nobody important… nobody she knows.

He's nobody important. Just another soldier. Random warrior she doesn't even know…

There. His chest was restructured and the Water Tribesman's ragged, quick gasps were becoming a little longer and slower. A very good sign… but she wasn't done yet.

Sokka's eyes clenched more tightly together as more blood seeped out between his lips, turning his teeth an unsightly shade of crimson. Katara choked back the disgust and bile as she looked at the prone figure before her.

Once again, she redirected her small stream of water to begin repairing the hole in his lung. It took a while—a very long while, with much waiting and whispering and wondering _oh dear Spirits will he survive?_—but she finally finished. Katara sighed and commanded the stream of water out of his esophagus. It came out sooty black and bloody; she immediately discarded it onto the stony ground.

"Very good, Katara," Hakoda murmured from his place beside his son. He gripped Sokka's hand tighter as the young boy's breathing slowed considerably. She gave a relieved sigh and sat back for a moment…

Wait.

Toph, who had been monitoring the Water Tribe boy, grabbed Katara's arm suddenly before shouting, "He's gonna stop breathing!"

"What!" Katara whirled on her heels and saw the slow rising and falling of her brother's chest suddenly come to a halt. "Oh my God…" The world came crashing to a halt. The red lifeblood seeping from Sokka's mouth slowly turned an ugly dark purple, while both this new blood and water came pouring out. His fists and teeth remained clenched, but his limbs stopped shaking and his eyes stopped the moving from behind their lids.

And Katara's whole universe was shattered in that moment. "…_Sokka…!_"

It was unclear who said it first—if it was the tattered old general, the grief-stricken love of the boy on the floor, the horrified father figure looming above him, the enemy turned recent comrade—but whoever it was snapped Katara out of her daze. She demanded Toph feed her updates and Suki do as much as possible for the fallen boy. She took some new water from her waterskin and bended it over his chest. She pushed and pulled, slamming his chest with water and her fists in order to force some life into his deflated lungs. "We need Aang down here," she murmured as the bender girl tried to force air into his body.

And finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the boy's body jerked violently and his eyes shot open. He took his first grating breath, and Katara was relieved.

Until she noticed the gruesome _hacking_ sound resonating from his lungs. The dark-skinned girl held a hand over his chest and felt the rugged vibrations emanating from his core. "…I don't know what's happening to him," she cried desperately. "What's wrong with him!"

Hakoda and Suki sat back and attempted to console themselves, while Toph said, "I don't know… it sounds like there's a lot of liquid left in his lungs…"

Once again, Katara bent a small stream of water down her brother's throat and assessed the damage. Sokka's chest heaved up and down, fingers digging into the stone, while his body jerked violently. His eyes were wide open, mouth gaping like a fish out of water. "_…What's wrong with him?!…_" There were screams and shouts—cries of agony and pleas of _oh my God somebody please just __**do something already**__…_

She sensed liquid in his lungs. Leftover blood from his punctured lung. And from the looks of it… he was getting very little oxygen.

Sokka was literally drowning in his own blood.

"_Get that out of there!_" Zuko screamed from behind Katara. "He's dying!"

The Waterbender felt the tears form unwanted behind her eyes as Sokka jerked and scraped desperately for air. "I can't… I can't _do_ anything!" she screamed back.

"You have to Bloodbend!"

_No._

"Yes. You have to Bloodbend that goo out of his lungs."

"No."

"He'll die!"

"…He _is_ dying…"

"Don't let him… he's your brother… Do something, Katara…!"

"I… can't."

"_You have to._"

"Do it now."

"NO!" Her fists shook violently. "I won't do it."

"Then he will perish."

"…No…"

"Yes." _Do it._

Fists clenched, eyes screwed shut, Katara allowed the hot tears to pour down her face. She opened her eyes, steely blue with determination and fear and a dozen other unrecognizable emotions. Slowly… she unclenched her fists while Sokka gasped. His chest rattled, and there was a great gurgling noise as he tried to breathe around the blood buildup. Slowly… she positioned her wrists into the correct placement. And slowly… always slowly… she moved them. Up, down, left and right separately, apart, then together, down again, apart, and up. And slowly… Sokka's desperate gasping stopped and slowed, his eyes drifted shut as he could finally _relax_ for the first time in a long while.

Katara almost threw up when she pulled a large glob of dark red and purple and a slippery green out of Sokka's mouth. The boy coughed and held up a hand to his mouth, wiping it off quickly in disgust. Slowly, his oceanic blue eyes opened, and he flashed a grin. Everyone in the group gave a collective sigh of relief.

He would be OK.

Suki stroked his hair as Sokka rested a hand on his chest. Katara felt more tears pour down her cheeks unchecked as she leaned over her brother. He would be OK. He would be alright.

His cracked lips opened in a grin to reveal stained teeth. "_Katara._" It was said so softly the girl almost missed it, but she leaned in and began listening closely when he grabbed her hand.

Twin sets of identical icy gazes met, and they both squeezed the other's hand. Sokka's half-lidded eyes looked up at her. _Thank you._

Slowly… always slowly… he opened his mouth and spoke to her. His voice was still rough, but his smooth words rang through the din of battle. He smiled through his—and Katara's—tears.

"Mom says hi." And she smiled back at him.

* * *


End file.
